Zambia, a southern African nation known for the world famous Victoria Falls, is all set to attract the Indian travellers and investors to this African nation. Recently, Zambia organised a road show in Mumbai and in New Delhi to meet the local travel trade fraternity and showcase their products. Currently, the tourism footfall from India to Zambia has been less than 50,000.
Speaking about the importance of India market for Zambia, Felix Chaila, Chief Executive Officer, Zambia Tourism Agency said, “India is a very potential market for us. Indians are looking for untapped new destination and we are unveiling our destination to this market. Zambia is trying to remove all constrains for the India market, so that Indians can travel comfortably. Earlier a traveller had to produce a Yellow Fever Vaccination Certificate as a visa requirement, now we have removed this document. We have also introduced electronic visa for the Indians. Also, the Indian travellers are not only looking for an untapped destination but also a safe destination in Africa and Zambia can provide this.”
Globally, Zambia has witnessed a 300 per cent growth in terms of MICE footfall. From the Indian market the destination is yet to welcome a MICE movement. Chaila said, “We have showcased a lot of new products in India and have received a good response for our wildlife, facilitation, adventure product, cultural products, and MICE. We invite the Indian outbound to come to Zambia. At the moment we don’t have any MICE travellers from India. The Indian MICE travellers are travelling to South Africa as of now. We are growing by around 300 per cent in MICE every year from the global market. So without any doubt soon we will see MICE traffic from India to Zambia. We have the right infrastructure, facilities and conference centres for MICE in Zambia.”
Zambia has a long history and ties with India. In the 1900’s many Indians settled in Zambia. Due to which Indian travellers can find similarities in culture and food. Apart from this, Zambia is also very keen to tap the investor fraternity from India to enhance their tourism offerings. Chaila said, “India is a very strategic market for us, as India is doing extremely well in the field of tourism. There is a lot of common things in India and Zambia, historically there is a lot of link with Mahatma Gandhi. We have a huge Indian community in Zambia. Indian food is not a hassle in Zambia.”
Zambia is also looking for tourism investments in Zambia. “We want to develop some of the white sandy beaches with world class infrastructure. We want investors to come forward and look at these untapped areas for investment. With the growth in tourism, there is also room for hotel and lodge investment. We also have an extremely friendly investor policy. There is no currency restriction in our country; foreign exchange regime is one of the most liberal in Zambia. There is free trading of currencies in Zambia,” he added.
